Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen says he is “happy no one got injured” during the pitstop collision at the Miami Grand prix sprint race that netted him a penalty.
On a drying track Verstappen came in for slick tyres on Lap 13 of 18, as he tried to undercut the comfortably leading McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
But Verstappen was released into the path of polesitter Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was due to stop in the Mercedes box right in front of him.
Verstappen clipped the rear of Antonelli’s car which broke the Dutchman’s front wing, critical damage that ended up costing him third position against Ferrari’s hard-charging Lewis Hamilton.
To make matters worse, Verstappen was handed a 10-second penalty dropping him well out of the points in 17th as the field bunched up to finish under safety car conditions.
It’s the second race weekend in three grands prix that Verstappen was hampered by pitstop trouble, with a lights malfunction and a slow wheel change also costing him in Bahrain.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
But Verstappen insisted the issues are unrelated and said he was happy nobody got hurt on either pit crew.
“They’ve all been different incidents, so you cannot really compare these things,” he told Sky Sports F1. “But I think we all don’t want that to happen, but it happened, so this is something that we need to investigate.
“At the other end also, I’m just happy that no one got injured because with these cars, if you hit someone, it’s not great. But yeah, I think it was super clear what happened there, so it’s not much more for me to add.”
Team boss Christian Horner added the incident was a result of “human error” and vowed Red Bull will “learn from it”.
The mishap cost Verstappen a guaranteed six points for claiming third in the sprint as well as a chance to attack the McLarens.
Antonelli also dropped out of the points as the collision prevented him from making a pitstop, so the rookie had to come back into the pits a second time to bolt on medium tyres.
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In this article
Filip Cleeren
Formula 1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull Racing
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